Yarn tube drive



March 1, 1960 E. K. BAUER YARN TUBE DRIVE Filed 001;. 10, 1957 description and drawingwherein:

United States atent ,The present invention relates to ,a drive assembly for v ayarn-collecting tube upon which a wound .yarn package is formed.

.With such collection v units, the continuous yarn is -wound upon a rotating yarn-collection tube .whilebeing {traversed back and forthalong the tube length whereby the yarn, is :built upon the .collecting tube in even layers.

MYlIlVEIllIlOfl is especially applicable for use with the less expensive-type tubes such as those madeof soft paper or soft plastic. For example, the tube may be formed --from a rubber compound known commercially .as

Kralastic.

It is therefore one objectof my invention to'provide .-a novel and improved drive unit for rotating yarn-collection tubes.

Another object of my invention-is to provide a novel .and improved drive unit for rotating yarn-collection tubes formed. of soft material wherein the tubes are held ;sub- ;-stant ially in perfect concentricity during rotation.

Another object of my inventionis to provide a drive unit for yarn-collection tubes wherein scratching, grooving or ;marring of the inner surface of yarn-collection tubes is; eliminated.

Still another objectof my inventionis to provide a novel and improveddrive unit for yarn-collection tubes wherein the yarn-collection tubes may be rapidly installed and removed from the drive .unit.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become more apparent from a study of the following Figure 1 is a-view partially sectioned showing a yarncollection tube assembly including my novel drive unit;

Figure 2 is a section taken along lines II, .11 .of Figre Figure ,3 ,is a section similar to'Figure -2 of vafditferent embodiment of my invention; and,

Figure 4 is a section taken along lines IV, IV of Figure 3.

As seen in Figure l of the drawing, a drive shaft or spindle 3 of a yarn-collection assembly supports a base member 5 upon which is seated a yarn-collection tube 7. The base member 5 and the tube 7 are adapted to be rotatable with the drive shaft 3. A yarn tube-centering 'member generally identified as 9 is secured to the upper portion of the shaft 3 for guiding and generally facilitating the installation and removal of the tube from the base member 5. The tube-centering member 9 is formed of a hub 11 and end plates 13, 13 welded or otherwise secured to the hub 11. The centering member 9 isfixed in position upon the drive shaft 3 by a short set screw 15 which extends through the hub 11 and is anchored against the periphery of shaft 3. The tube-centering means 9 forms a sliding fit only, as does the base member 5, with the inner surface of the tube 7.

My tube drive unit which actually grips the tube 7 to form a driving connection between the spindle 3 and the tube will now be described in detail.

As seen in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, a plurality 2,926,511 Patented Mar. 1, 1960 2 of shoes 17, '17 are supported inpivotal gmannerflbetween the end plates ,13, 13 .of the tube-centering member 9 by .pins 19, 19 which extend through the opposing end plates .13, 13 and the top and bottom surface of the shoes 17,

pass. As noted in Figure 'l, the ,face portion of the ,s'hoe 17 is ofsmaller cross section than the body portion of the shoe so that the bent extensions 22, 22 of the end plates'13, 13 prevent the'body portion of the shoe 17 ,from passing through the'restricted 'passagewayflfs.

As seen better in Figure 2 of the drawing,the shoe faces 21, .21 have a. curvature whichcorresponds to-the curvature ,of the inner surface of the tuhe 7. Actually, the faces '21, 2 1 of the shoes 17, 17 lie in perfect con- ,centricity when the shoes are in their tube-gripping position.

The faces 21, 21 of the shoes describe arcs along a single circle. With this arrangement, the concentr'icity or true circular shape of the tube '7 is maintained during the yarn-collection operation which ,condition is essentialto provide uniform and even windingof the yarn on the tubes. This feature is of special advantage when used with collection tubes which. are formed of a soft material such as a rubbery material or, soft paper material since a good concentricity of the tube is.essential to provide'uniform and even winding of the yarn ont'he tube. To use these types of tubes presents a great advantage in that they areless expensive than the hard plastic or thick cardboard tubes. 7

To assure the perfect concentricityof the shoe faces 21, 21 when the shoes are in their tube-gripping position, the ,facesof the shoes are deliberately ground to follow a concentric pattern after the shoes have been fixed'in centering member 9 is first positionedon a suitablecylindrical work shaft after which set screws (not shown) are insertedv ithin the'threaded holes 50, '30 extending through the shoes 17,17. The ends of these set screws operate against the hub 11 of the centering member 9 and by rotating the screws clockwise the shoes may'be moved away-from thehu'b 11 until each shoe'is fixed in position and pressed against theinward bends of plates 1 3an exact distance from the'center of'the work shaft.

If desired, the shaft used may be the actual spindle 3. This distance is, of course, the same for each shoe. When fixed in this position, the faces 21, 21 of the shoes 17, 17 are ground by an operator until they describe arcs along a single circle so that they lie in perfect concentricity. The position in which the shoes 17, 17 are fixed prior to the grinding operation correspond to the position in which the shoes will lie when in gripping contact with the inner surface of a yamcollection tube 7.

As further noted in Figure 2, the faces 21, 21 of the shoes 17, 17 are somewhat elongated so that each face follows a good portion of the circumference of the inner surface of the tube 7. With such an arrangement, the tube 7 is gripped along a substantial portion of its inner circumference to provide uniform and substantial driving contact with the tube. Such overall contact serves to eliminate marring of the inner surface of the tube. With prior drive units, the drive elements have small contact areas whereby the gripping pressure is applied along small areas of the tube which tends to create wear spots on the inner surface of the tube. With my device, this pressure is distributed along the tube circumference.

As mentioned above, the shoes 17, 17 pivot freely on their pins 19, 19 so that the shoes will move outwardly With my arrangement, the shoes 17, 17 will begin to progress outwardly toward the inner surface of the tube 7 almost simultaneously with the init al rotation of the drive spindle 3 whereby rotation of the tube 7 is started at a much earlier stage than with the resilient-type drive' units heretofore developed. With th s early contact between shoe and tube, I have eliminated oneprincipal cause of marring the inner surface of the tube in that there is very little sliding friction set up when the rotating shoes contact the inner surface of the tube to initiate the driving action.

A different embodiment of my invention isshown in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawing. One salient feature of this embodiment lies in the fact that the outward movement of an individual tube-gripping shoe is eliminatedto the extent that the shoes must move outward simultaneously. As seen in this embodiment. a tubecentering member 35 is supported in fixed position upon a drive shaft 37. As with the embodiment described above, the tube-centering means forms only a sliding fit with the tube 7. A plurality of tube-gripping shoes 39, 39 are pivotably supported in non-restricted manner by pins 41, 41 wh ch extend through the tube-centering member 35 and the shoes 39, 39. Pivotally attached to each shoe 39 is a link 43. The opposite end of the link 43 is in turn pivotably attached to a rotatable or sliding ring 45. As seen in Figure 4, the ring 45 is supported by the links 43, 43 in position between the tube-centering ous formation with the other shoes whereby the faces of the shoes 39, 39 will contact the inner surface of the tube 7 at exactly the same moment. The ring 45 does not exert appreciably retarding force upon the outward movement of the shoes 39, 39 but does retard their outward movement to the extent that they must all move in simultaneous formation.

With this embodiment, it is seen that equal driving force is applied simultaneously to opposing portions of the inner surface of the tube whereby uniform driving action and gripping pressure is exerted upon the tube during the initial rotation as well as the continuous rotation of the tube. This uniform shoe contact feature also tends to prevent any imbalance from being set up in the tube which condition is very likely to occur when using tubes formed of soft material such as mentioned above.

In this embodiment, it is also seen that the face or gripping portion of each shoe 39 has the approximate curvature as that of the inner circumference of the tube with the same resultant advantages as set forth above in the description of the first embodiment.

It is to be understood that changes may be made with respect to the above described apparatus without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim: 7

1. A drive assembly for a yarn-collecting tube comprising a drive shaft for the yarn tube, a yarn-collecting tube-centering member mounted upon the drive shaft, a plurality of freely pivotable yarn tube-gripping shoes mounted upon the tube-centering member, a rotatable ring positioned between the shoes and the centering member, a pivotable link secured at one end to each shoe with the opposite end of each link being secured to the ring, said ring being rotatable by the pull of the shoes as they move outwardly through centrifugal force to plurality of tube gripping shoes pivotally mounted upon said centering.,member, said shoes being adapted to ,--swing outwardly under centrifugal force to grip a yarn tube mounted on said centering member when said drive shaft is rotated, and means interconnecting said shoes and prescribing simultaneous outwardmovement thereof.

3. A drive assembly for a yarn-collecting tube according to claim 2 comprising curved gripping faces on the shoes which faces have a curvature approximating that of the inside curvature of the yarn-collecting tube.

References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,587,410 Pepin June 1, 1926 2,249,393 Nardone July 15, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 284,366 Germany July 9, 1914 404,564 Germany Oct. 20, 1924 379,759 Italy Apr. 15, 1940 

